Section 1l

| and hear thou my rede,- Profit thou hast if thou hearest, Great thy gain if thou learnest: I bid thee be wary, | but be not fearful; (Beware most with ale or another's wife, And third beware | lest a thief outwit thee.) [129. Line 5 is apparently interpolated. 131. Lines 5-6 probably were inserted from a different poem.] p. 58 132. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,- Profit thou hast if thou hearest, Great thy gain if thou learnest: Scorn or mocking | ne'er shalt thou make Of a guest or a journey-goer. 133. Oft scarcely he knows | who sits in the house What kind is the man who comes; None so good is found | that faults he has not, Nor so wicked that nought he is worth. 134. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,-- Profit thou hast if thou hearest, Great thy gain if thou learnest: Scorn not ever | the gray-haired singer, Oft do the old speak good; (Oft from shrivelled skin | come skillful counsels, Though it hang with the hides, And flap with the pelts, And is blown with the bellies.) [133. Many editors reject the last two lines of this stanza as spurious, putting the first two lines at the end of the preceding stanza. Others, attaching lines 3 and 4 to stanza 132, insert as the first two lines of stanza 133 two lines from a late paper manuscript, running: "Evil and good | do men's sons ever "Mingled bear in their breasts." 134. Presumably the last four lines have been added to this stanza, for the parallelism in the last three makes it probable that they belong together. The wrinkled skin of the old man is [fp. 59] compared with the dried skins and bellies of animals kept for various purposes hanging in an Icelandic house.] p. 59 135. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,-- Profit thou hast if thou hearest, Great thy gain if thou learnest: Curse not thy guest, | nor show him thy gate, Deal well with a man in want. 136. Strong is the beam | that raised must be To give an entrance to all; Give it a ring, | or grim will be The wish it would work on thee. 137. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,-- Profit thou hast if thou hearest, Great thy gain if thou learnest: When ale thou drinkest) | seek might of earth, (For earth cures drink, | and fire cures ills, The oak cures tightness, | the ear cures magic, Rye cures rupture, | the moon cures rage, Grass cures the scab, | and runes the sword-cut;) The field absorbs the flood. [136. This stanza suggests the dangers of too much hospitality. The beam (bolt) which is ever being raised to admit guests be comes weak thereby. It needs a ring to help it in keeping the door closed, and without the ability at times to ward off guests a man becomes the victim of his own generosity. 137. The list of "household remedies" in this stanza is doubtless interpolated. Their nature needs no comment here.] p. 60 138. Now are Hor's words | spoken in the hall, Kind for the kindred of men, Cursed for the kindred of giants: Hail to the speaker, | and to him who learns! Profit be his who has them! Hail to them who hearken! * * * 139.